ASCENDCHESS Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 31, 2026 Operated by: ASCENDCHESS, Inc. ("ASCENDCHESS," "we," "us," or "our") Contact: joseph.hungerman@ascendchess.com

ASCENDCHESS is currently in beta. This policy describes how we handle your information today. Because the platform is evolving, we may update this policy as features change. Material changes will be communicated as described in the "Changes to this policy" section.

1. Who we are

ASCENDCHESS is a chess improvement platform for serious improvers. It analyzes your games, identifies the patterns and weaknesses holding you back, and builds a structured study plan around them. The service is operated by ASCENDCHESS, Inc.

2. Information we collect

Account information. When you sign in, we receive your name and email address through your WilCo Chess Club account, which serves as the single sign-on identity provider for ASCENDCHESS. We do not see or store your WilCo password.

Chess and study data. This is the core of the service. It includes games you import or enter (from Lichess, from Chess.com, by uploading PGN files, or by manual entry), your repertoire and opening lines, your study collections and the books you track, your drill and training results, and the diagnostic profiles the platform builds from this activity (your tactical, opening, time-control, and decision profiles).

Usage data. We use first-party analytics to understand how the platform is used. This includes events such as which features you open, when you complete a drill, and when you connect an account. These events are attributed to your account so we can measure your activation and progress and improve the product. We do not use third-party advertising trackers.

Payment information. When paid subscriptions are available, payments are handled by a third-party payment processor. ASCENDCHESS does not collect or store your full card number or bank details. We receive only confirmation of payment status and limited billing metadata from the processor.

If you cancel a subscription, we record the optional reason you choose and any note you add, to understand why members leave.

Communications and feedback. When you submit feedback through the in-app feedback tool or email us, we receive the content of your message, your email address, and basic technical context such as the page you were on and your browser type.

Calendar connection (coaches). If you are a coach, you can connect a Google or Microsoft calendar so students only see times you are free, and so booked lessons appear on your calendar.

• Google: we can only see whether you are busy or free, never the titles or details of your events. We add booked lessons to a separate calendar we create, called "ASCENDCHESS lessons". When you connect, Google also tells us the email address of that account.
• Microsoft: Microsoft only offers a single read-and-write permission for calendars, so we have to ask for it. We read only the start time, end time and busy status of your events, never their titles or details. We add booked lessons to your main calendar. When you connect, Microsoft also tells us the email address of that account.
• What we store: an encrypted access key for your calendar. We never store your calendar events. We also store the email address of the calendar account you connect, so we can show you which account your lessons go to. We delete it when you disconnect.
• Disconnecting: you can disconnect at any time. We then stop reading your calendar and remove upcoming lessons we added, and:
  • for Google, we withdraw our access with Google;
  • for Microsoft, we delete our copy of the access key. Microsoft does not let apps withdraw their own access, so we link you to Microsoft's app-permissions page to remove it there.
• Account deletion: deleting your account disconnects your calendar the same way.

3. How we use your information

We use your information to operate and improve the service: to generate game analysis, coaching, and study recommendations; to build and maintain your diagnostic profile; to provide spaced-repetition scheduling and progress tracking; to process subscriptions when available; to respond to your feedback and support requests; to understand product usage in aggregate; and to keep the platform secure and functioning.

When our AI coach cannot verify an answer, a chess expert who works with us may review your question and the position it is about, so we can give you a checked answer.

If you connect a rating from another federation or site, your rating may be included in anonymous aggregate statistics, such as the typical rating ranges we publish on our public rating comparison page. We publish only grouped figures, never your individual rating, and never anything that identifies you. You can disconnect a rating at any time, which removes it from future aggregates. These figures are recomputed daily from all connected accounts and are rounded, so they describe groups rather than any one member.

4. How AI processing works

ASCENDCHESS uses artificial intelligence to enrich your games and generate coaching. When you import or analyze games or use coaching features, relevant chess data (such as positions, moves, and summaries of your performance patterns) and limited account context are sent to third-party AI providers (currently Anthropic and Google) to generate analysis and written coaching, and to read the board and book photos you choose to upload.

We do not send your password, payment details, or full personal profile to these providers. Chess engine analysis (Stockfish) runs either in your own browser or on servers we operate on our cloud hosting provider, listed below. It does not involve a third-party AI provider.

AI-generated coaching is informational and is not guaranteed to be correct. It is a study aid, not professional instruction or a guarantee of improvement.

5. Service providers and sub-processors

We rely on a small set of service providers to operate ASCENDCHESS. They receive data only as needed to provide their service to us, and some also use it for their own purposes under their own terms, as noted below:

• WilCo Chess Club (single sign-on) for account authentication. If you sign in through the club, we also check your club membership with it. If your account uses the profile photo your club holds, your browser loads that photo from the club's image host, which receives your IP address.
• RuCo Chess Club (single sign-on) for account authentication when you sign in through RuCo. RuCo shares with us the account details needed to sign you in.
• Lichess and Chess.com when you choose to connect those accounts to import your games. These connections use OAuth, and you authorize them yourself. If you add your Chess.com username instead, we read that account's public games from Chess.com without OAuth. Our free tools that read a chess account's public games send Lichess or Chess.com the username you enter.
• Anthropic and Google (Gemini and Cloud Vision) for AI enrichment, coaching and reading the board and book photos you upload, as described in Section 4. We also use Anthropic's AI assistant (Claude) to help us build, run and support ASCENDCHESS. It can see your data when we use it to look into a problem, answer a request from you, or check that the service works correctly.
• Google Cloud Platform for chess engine and analysis compute (Cloud Run) and for our database backups (Cloud Storage).
• Cloudinary for storing your profile photo, the book covers you upload, and the data-export files we email you. It also stores the cover images you upload for your studies and courses. Your browser loads these images and downloads your export files directly from Cloudinary, which receives your IP address when it does.
• InterServer for server hosting.
• Microsoft Azure DevOps for our internal issue tracker, which holds the reports and feedback you send us.
• Resend for email delivery.
• Google Chat for internal staff alerts about reports. These alerts can also include a message you send through our contact form, and your email address when you send us a testimonial or when a payment of yours fails.
• Stripe for subscription billing. For lessons with coaches, Stripe also takes lesson payments and pays coaches their share. A coach who receives payouts gives their identity and bank details to Stripe directly, through Stripe's own sign-up.
• Google (Calendar API), used only for coaches who connect a calendar. If you book a lesson with a coach who connected a Google calendar, the lesson we add to it shows your name.
• Microsoft (Microsoft Graph), used only for coaches who connect a calendar. If you book a lesson with a coach who connected a Microsoft calendar, the lesson we add to it shows your name.
• Cloudflare (Turnstile) for the bot check on our public forms, such as the contact form and the board photo tool. It receives a challenge token from your browser and your IP address. It also runs on our sign-up form and on the mailing-list sign-up on our home page, and it reads details about your browser to tell people from automated traffic.
• US Chess for looking up your official rating when you add your USCF ID. It receives the USCF ID or the name you type into the lookup, and returns the matching member's published rating information.
• World Chess (FIDE Online Arena) when you choose to link your World Chess player ID. We send that ID to World Chess and read the player information it publishes for it. When you look up or link a World Chess player ID, your browser loads that player's photo from World Chess, which receives your IP address.
• Google Workspace (Gmail) for our email inboxes, which hold the emails you send us, including your replies to our emails, and can hold the messages you send through our contact form.
• Adobe (Adobe Fonts) for the typefaces on our pages. When a page loads, your browser requests the fonts from Adobe, which receives your IP address and details about your browser, and counts the page view for font licensing.

Our analytics and telemetry are self-hosted on our own infrastructure rather than provided by a third-party analytics vendor.

6. When your information is shared

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.

Coaching (Coach Bridge). If you choose to share your profile with a coach, that coach will be able to view the chess and study data you share with them through the platform. This sharing happens only when you initiate it, and it reflects the coaching relationship you have chosen. You control whether to share and, going forward, will be able to manage that sharing.

Legal and safety. We may disclose information if required by law, to respond to lawful requests, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of our users or of ASCENDCHESS.

Business transfer. If ASCENDCHESS is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will note any such change in this policy.

7. Data retention

We keep your account and chess data for as long as your account is active. If you close your account or request deletion, we will delete or anonymize your personal data within a reasonable period, except where we are required to retain certain records (for example, billing records) to comply with legal obligations.

8. Your rights and choices

You can access and update much of your information from within the platform. You may request a copy of your data, request correction, or request deletion of your account and associated personal data by contacting us at joseph.hungerman@ascendchess.com. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under local law, including the rights to access, correct, delete, or port your data, and to object to or restrict certain processing. We will honor these rights as required by applicable law.

You can disconnect a linked Lichess or Chess.com account at any time, which stops further imports from that source.

9. Cookies and local storage

We use cookies and similar browser storage that are necessary for the service to function, such as keeping you signed in and remembering your in-app preferences. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

10. Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information, including encryption in transit and access controls on our systems. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to protect your data and to limit who can access it.

11. Children's privacy

ASCENDCHESS is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. Chess is studied by people of all ages, and where a minor uses the platform, the account should be created and supervised by a parent, guardian, or a coach acting with appropriate consent. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us personal information without proper consent, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps to address it.

12. International users

ASCENDCHESS is operated from the United States, and your information is processed and stored in the United States and in the regions used by our service providers. If you access the service from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be processed in the United States.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the platform evolves. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date above and, where appropriate, notify you by email or through the platform. Your continued use of the service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.

14. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data can be sent to joseph.hungerman@ascendchess.com.

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This document is a beta draft prepared by the ASCENDCHESS team and has not yet been reviewed by legal counsel. It is intended to be reviewed by an attorney as the business scope expands.